THE HEADLINES

Levee near New Orleans, 2005. (Photo from Common Dreams)

DROVE MY CHEVY TO THE LEVEE—BUT WHERE THE HELL IS THE LEVEE?

(Associated Press)

Even the U.S. Corps of Engineers, responsible for maintaining all the levees throughout the country that serve as flood protection, are unsure about many of these levees. Though tasked after Katrina to develop a “database” of the country’s levees, they have yet barely scratched the surface on this project, having pinpointed the locations of only 14,000 miles of levees of the estimated 100,000 miles of such levees in the U.S.

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U.S. EMPLOYING MANY “SURROGATES” IN ITS ATTEMPT TO RE-COLONIZE AFRICA.

(Global Research)

Mahdi Nazemroaya and Julien Tell, in article posted three weeks ago, review the many-tentacled effort to convert the “war on terrorism” in Africa into a region of U.S. imperial dominance. The efforts of Israel, France and other EU countries, along with “democracy” and “human rights” organizations, are being mobilized to help to “de-stabilize” the government of any country which dares to defy that dominance. They even use a map of “sub-Saharan Africa” made by the French a half-century ago to define an administrative entity in a region rich in natural resources that can be controlled by the U.S. as France had earlier attempted to control it.

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WHO’S OCCUPYING WALL STREET ANYWAY: THE PROTESTERS OR THE DERELICTS?

(New York Post)

Volunteer kitchen staff which has been feeding the protesters complain that they are being inundated by food demands of “professional homeless” people and give warning to the Occupy committee that they won’t be able to continue the “fancy feasts” that they have offered the occupiers, shifting to a meagre ration of brown beans and rice. Dude, where’s my beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad?

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OMAHA BOYS WILL BE BOYS (NOT SO MUCH IF THEY ARE CATHOLIC BOYS).

(Omaha World-Herald)

Members of all-boys Catholic Creighton prep school football team go on a “scavenger hunt” with a list containing the like of trying on a skirt at Wal Mart, picking a fight with a stranger in public, getting themselves photographed in front of Dr. John’s Lingerie Boutique. They get busted after a Dr. John’s employee gives school officials a copy of the list left at the store by one of the boys. Those who completed the list were disciplined by school officials, who noted that most of the boys converted “objectionable” tasks on the list to others which were simply “silly and fun.”

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SEE NO EVIL: FLORIDA IS SHUTTING DOWN ITS MONITORING SYSTEM FOR WETLANDS MANAGEMENT.

(Palm Beach Post)

60% budget cuts lead managers essentially to abandon periodic monitoring of conditions such as algae blooms, water contamination, and the welfare of wading birds. One environmentalist compares it to a hospital emergency room shutting down its monitoring of vital signs for critically ill patients.

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Quote of the day…

We may be debating the pennies, nickels and dimes in a debt crisis that is demanding half-dollars and dollar bills.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, co-chair of congressional “super-committee” which is convening to find areas of expenditure cuts to reduce budget deficit.

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